Ilonka Rus to Perform at W&L’s Lenfest Center The pianist’s Oct. 21 performance is sponsored by the Concert Guild.

By Emily Innes
October 6, 2023

The Lenfest Center at Washington and Lee University presents Ilonka Rus in concert on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. in Wilson Concert Hall.

The performance is sponsored by W&L’s Concert Guild, which brings professional performing artists to campus each year for concerts and master classes. Tickets are required and available online or in person at the Lenfest Box Office.

Rus is a Transylvanian-born pianist who currently serves as the director of keyboard studies and professor of piano at Sam Houston State University. Rus began her piano studies with her mother in Romania when she was five years old, and by the age of ten, she had given her first public performance and won her first award at the Citta di Marsala international piano competition in Italy.

After studying at the Music Academy in Bucharest, Romania, Texas Christian University and the Oberlin College Conservatory, Rus received her doctorate in piano performance from the University of Houston. Rus continues to teach piano solo and chamber music master classes, perform clinics, and adjudicate national and international competitions. She is currently the vice president of the Texas chapter of the World Piano Teachers Association and received the prestigious Kawai Educator Medallion Award in 2021.

Rus has appeared as a recitalist and concert artist with numerous orchestras and chamber music ensembles throughout Romania, Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland and the United States, performing at prestigious music centers including Carnegie Hall in New York and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Her Oct. 21 concert will feature works by Mozart, Brian Field, George Enescu, Tudor Dumitrescu and Carl Filtch.

Order your tickets online today or call the Lenfest Center box office at 540-458-8000 for ticket purchase information. Box office hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The cost is $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $15 for W&L faculty and staff; students receive free tickets by showing their student identification.

For a full list of this season’s performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies and the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art in one energizing complex.